Association between Teachers’ Selflessness and School Organizational Commitment

This study aimed to determine the relationship between teachers' selflessness on their school organizational commitment. The study employed a descriptive-correlation research design with the online survey as the primary data collection tool. The respondents came from the 30 elementary and secondary schools in the Schools Division Office, Central Luzon. One hundred fifty-one public school teachers participated in the online survey using a stratified sampling technique. Adapted questionnaires were used to gather data. For the statistical treatment of the study, the mean was used for the teachers' responses. In contrast, for the relationship, the study used Pearson r-correlation. The study found that teachers' selflessness described their philosophies as "agree." As for the teachers' organizational commitment, it generated moderate to high responses. There is a significant difference in teachers' selflessness regarding sex and position. Also, the study found a relationship between teachers' selflessness, and affective and continuance commitment aspects of teachers' organizational commitment. Based on the results mentioned above, the researcher provided some crucial recommendations for the study

Emotional quotient, work attitude and teaching performance of secondary school teachers

The teacher, aside from the challenges he/she faces in everyday work, the rigors of student management and the mountain of paperwork, is also confronted with the task to be emotionally matured, exhibit positive work habits, and display high teaching performance. This study aimed to determine the emotional quotient, work attitude, and teaching performance of secondary school teachers. The study used a descriptive-correlational method of research. Seven hundred and sixty-eight (768) public secondary school teachers from four school division offices in Central Luzon, Philippines took part in the study. To determine the emotional quotient and work attitude of the respondents, the study used tools by Helgriegel, et al. (1992), and the Department of Education’s Competency Based-Performance Appraisal System for Teachers (CB-PAST) for the teaching performance. Analysis of the data is through frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson-r, and chi-square. The results showed that the emotional quotient of the secondary school teacher was “high”. The work attitudes of teachers in terms of sense of efficacy, sense of community, and a sense of professional interest was “very high”. In addition, the respondents also got a “very satisfactory” rating in their teaching performance. The teachers’ emotional quotient and their teaching performance were significantly correlated. The researcher also found significant correlations between teachers’ work attitude in terms of the sense of efficacy and their teaching performance. Further perusal revealed significant differences among the respondents’ work attitudes when grouped according to gender, educational attainment, and length of service. Based on the results, the researcher suggested pertinent implications for the study

MOTIVATING FACTORS OF TEACHERS IN DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY LEARNING MATERIALS (SLMS)

The study was conducted to identify the motivating factors of teachers in developing supplementary learning materials in the Schools Division in Central Luzon, Philippines.Findings revealed there were ten (10) motivating factors that help teachers to develop supplementary learning materials namely: helps them to deliver the lesson easier; motivates learners; receives recognition and achievement; promotes participation and ICT collaboration; develops creativity; enhances teaching and learning processes; enhances language, skills and communication; provides contextualized instructional materials; develops skills in writing and drawing; and helps them for ranking purposes. While there were hindering factors why teachers could not develop supplementary learning materials such as: lack of ICT skills and knowledge; lack of time, lack of materials; lack of budget; their teaching loads; additional clerical works; stress; lack of support; no internet connection; and their attitude towards the development of SLMs. Based from the findings of the study, a proposed policy was developed to further improve teachers’ motivational factors in developing SLMs and to respond to the issues addressed by the teachers regarding the matter. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were offered

Professional Development, Organizational Climate, Supervisory Rapport, and Overall Satisfaction of Employees: An Attitudinal Study

This study aimed to analyze the professional development, organizational climate, supervisory rapport, and overall satisfaction of employees from a local higher education institution in Central Luzon, Philippines. This study made use of a descriptive-correlational design with an adapted and modified survey questionnaire as an instrument and selected sixty-five (65) respondents using a convenience sampling technique. The paper utilized SPSS 20 to treat the gathered data with the use of the following statistical tools: frequency, percentage, weighted mean, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson-r. The study generated the following results: the employees unanimously agreed on the contexts and concepts presented in the three variables of the study namely, professional development, organizational climate, and supervisory rapport. Moreover, they responded favorably about their job satisfaction. In addition, there are significant findings observed as regards to professional development, organizational climate, and supervisory rapport of the employees when grouped according to demographic profiles. Furthermore, there is substantial evidence of relationships observed among demographic profile, professional development, organizational climate, supervisory rapport, and overall satisfaction. With the foregoing results, the researchers recommended suggestions to promote organizational development among employees

Interaction of a viral insulin-like peptide with the IGF-1 receptor produces a natural antagonist

Lymphocystis disease virus-1 (LCDV-1) and several other Iridoviridae encode viral insulin/IGF-1 like peptides (VILPs) with high homology to human insulin and IGFs. Here we show that while single-chain (sc) and double-chain (dc) LCDV1-VILPs have very low affinity for the insulin receptor, scLCDV1-VILP has high affinity for IGF1R where it can antagonize human IGF-1 signaling, without altering insulin signaling. Consequently, scLCDV1-VILP inhibits IGF-1 induced cell proliferation and growth hormone/IGF-1 induced growth of mice in vivo. Cryo-electron microscopy reveals that scLCDV1-VILP engages IGF1R in a unique manner, inducing changes in IGF1R conformation that led to separation, rather than juxtaposition, of the transmembrane segments and hence inactivation of the receptor. Thus, scLCDV1-VILP is a natural peptide with specific antagonist properties on IGF1R signaling and may provide a new tool to guide development of hormonal analogues to treat cancers or metabolic disorders sensitive to IGF-1 without affecting glucose metabolism. The authors previously identified a family of viral insulin-like peptides (VILPs) with high homology to human insulin/IGF−1. Here, they report that one of these VILPs exhibits antagonist properties associated with a unique conformation of the IGF1R

A fluorogenic probe for granzyme B enables in-biopsy evaluation and screening of response to anticancer immunotherapies

Immunotherapy promotes the attack of cancer cells by the immune system; however, it is difficult to detect early responses before changes in tumor size occur. Here, we report the rational design of a fluorogenic peptide able to detect picomolar concentrations of active granzyme B as a biomarker of immune-mediated anticancer action. Through a series of chemical iterations and molecular dynamics simulations, we synthesize a library of FRET peptides and identify probe H5 with an optimal fit into granzyme B. We demonstrate that probe H5 enables the real-time detection of T cell-mediated anticancer activity in mouse tumors and in tumors from lung cancer patients. Furthermore, we show image-based phenotypic screens, which reveal that the AKT kinase inhibitor AZD5363 shows immune-mediated anticancer activity. The reactivity of probe H5 may enable the monitoring of early responses to anticancer treatments using tissue biopsies

A Tabletop X-Ray Tomography Instrument for Nanometer-Scale Imaging: Integration of a Scanning Electron Microscope with a Transition-Edge Sensor Spectrometer

X-ray nanotomography is a powerful tool for the characterization of nanoscale materials and structures, but is difficult to implement due to competing requirements on X-ray flux and spot size. Due to this constraint, state-of-the-art nanotomography is predominantly performed at large synchrotron facilities. Compact X-ray nanotomography tools operated in standard analysis laboratories exist, but are limited by X-ray optics and destructive sample preparation techniques. We present a laboratory-scale nanotomography instrument that achieves nanoscale spatial resolution while changing the limitations of conventional tomography tools. The instrument combines the electron beam of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with the precise, broadband X-ray detection of a superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter. The electron beam generates a highly focused X-ray spot in a metal target, while the TES spectrometer isolates target photons with high signal-to-noise. This combination of a focused X-ray spot, energy-resolved X-ray detection, and unique system geometry enable nanoscale, element-specific X-ray imaging in a compact footprint. The proof-of-concept for this approach to X-ray nanotomography is demonstrated by imaging 160 nm features in three dimensions in a Cu-SiO2 integrated circuit, and a path towards finer resolution and enhanced imaging capabilities is discussed.Comment: The following article has been submitted to Physical Review Applie

A tabletop x-ray tomography instrument for nanometer-scale imaging: demonstration of the 1,000-element transition-edge sensor subarray

We report on the 1,000-element transition-edge sensor (TES) x-ray spectrometer implementation of the TOMographic Circuit Analysis Tool (TOMCAT). TOMCAT combines a high spatial resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a highly efficient and pixelated TES spectrometer to reconstruct three-dimensional maps of nanoscale integrated circuits (ICs). A 240-pixel prototype spectrometer was recently used to reconstruct ICs at the 130 nm technology node, but to increase imaging speed to more practical levels, the detector efficiency needs to be improved. For this reason, we are building a spectrometer that will eventually contain 3,000 TES microcalorimeters read out with microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexing, and we currently have commissioned a 1,000 TES subarray. This still represents a significant improvement from the 240-pixel system and allows us to begin characterizing the full spectrometer performance. Of the 992 maximimum available readout channels, we have yielded 818 devices, representing the largest number of TES x-ray microcalorimeters simultaneously read out to date. These microcalorimeters have been optimized for pulse speed rather than purely energy resolution, and we measure a FWHM energy resolution of 14 eV at the 8.0 keV Cu K$\alpha$ line.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivit

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected

Contribution of Recipient-Derived Cells in Allograft Neointima Formation and the Response to Stent Implantation

Allograft coronary disease is the dominant cause of increased risk of death after cardiac transplantation. While the percutaneous insertion of stents is the most efficacious revascularization strategy for allograft coronary disease there is a high incidence of stent renarrowing. We developed a novel rabbit model of sex-mismatched allograft vascular disease as well as the response to stent implantation. In situ hybridization for the Y-chromosome was employed to detect male cells in the neointima of stented allograft, and the population of recipient derived neointimal cells was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and characterized by immunohistochemistry. To demonstrate the participation of circulatory derived cells in stent neointima formation we infused ex vivo labeled peripheral blood mononuclear cells into native rabbit carotid arteries immediately after stenting. Fourteen days after stenting the neointima area was 58% greater in the stented vs. non-stented allograft segments (p = 0.02). Male cells were detected in the neointima of stented female-to-male allografts. Recipient-derived cells constituted 72.1±5.7% and 81.5±4.2% of neointimal cell population in the non-stented and stented segments, respectively and the corresponding proliferation rates were only 2.7±0.5% and 2.3±0.2%. Some of the recipient-derived neointimal cells were of endothelial lineage. The ex vivo tagged cells constituted 9.0±0.4% of the cells per high power field in the stent neointima 14 days after stenting. These experiments provide important quantitative data regarding the degree to which host-derived blood-borne cells contribute to neointima formation in allograft vasculopathy and the early response to stent implantation